Update Samsung Epic 4G Touch to Hydra ROM Ice Cream Sandwich

Samsung Epic 4G Touch SPH-D710 is a Sprint device version of Samsung’s Galaxy S2 smartphone and in this post you will find instructions on how to successfully update it to an hybrid phone / tablet UI using the Hydra ROM firwmare files.

Hydra ROM is based on AOKP and it is an Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich custom ROM firmware that has been created by VeNuM, an XDA recognized developer for Epic 4G Touch smartphone. This new custom ROM will offer you the possibility to feel and experience a tablet user interface right on your phone’s somewhat small screen. It will add a tablet UI that you would normally see on other original tablet devices along with improving and customizing the AOKP ROM by Android Open Kang Project team. Please note that this tablet UI text will appear smaller than you would normally expect it to be and you might not like it.

Make sure that you read all the instructions and all 3 parts listed in this post because only by doing this you will successfully manage to install the Hydra ROM firmware. The 4 parts you really need to read are the ‘preaparation guide’, ‘clockwork mod recovery installation guide ‘ and the ‘Hydra ROM installation guide’.

Now that you know all of the above, you can move to the preparation guide and learn how to properly prepare your Epic 4G Touch and your computer for the Hydra ROM update guide. Here’s what you need to take into consideration:

install the Hydra ROM only if your device is Epic 4G Touch model number SPH-D710. This can be checked by going to Settings and then open About phone.

it is recommended that you create backups of your important files so that these won’t get corrupted or lost while updating the ROM firmware.

charge the phone’s battery until it reaches over 75% power levels and this should keep it powered ON until after we complete the updating process.

download the USB drivers from here; these have to be installed on your PC

Please note that we cannot be held responsible in case something goes wrong and your device doesn’t boot. That’s why the instructions listed in this post should be applied only by those who are familiar with root and recovery methods. Now that you know all this you should move to the tutorial guide. First you will need to install EL26 Stock ClockworkMod Recovery and only afterwards you will need to flash the Hydra ROM files. Here’s what you need to do:

I. Flash the EL26 Stock ClockworkMod Recovery:

First, we will need to download the Hydra ROM zip from here.

Download the Google Apps zip file from here.

Move both zips on your smartphone’s internal SDcard.

Download the EL26 Clockworkmod Recovery zip file from here.

Now download the Odin zip file from here and save it on your computer desktop.

Extract the ODIN zip contents in a single folder and leave it on desktop.

Disconnect the Epic 4G Touch and then power it OFF. After it vibrates you can move to the next step.

Now you need to enter Download mode on your phone. Press and hold ‘volume down’ and ‘Power’ buttons and then wait until a ‘warning’ logo image will appear. To confirm download mode press ‘volume up’.

Go to Odin folder and launch the Odin executable file.

Connect the smartphone to your computer. Odin should say ‘Added’. If that message doesn’t appear then it means that you haven’t installed the USB drivers. These can be found in the preparation guide. If everything went accordingly to plan move to the next step.

Click the ‘PDA’ button in Odin and then browse for the ‘StockCWM-EL26.tar.md5′ file; the file downloaded at step 4. Load it.

Now make sure to un-check the ‘Auto Reboot’ from Odin.

Press START to begin installing the CWM Recovery on your Epic 4G Touch. After the installation of CWM is completed, a PASS alert notification will appear in Odin.

Now that the phone has been flashed with CWM you will need to disconnect your phone from the PC, then remove the battery and after that place it back on. Don’t turn off the phone.

NOTE: In case Odin freezes and doesn’t do anything or the ‘FAIL’ notification appears then you will need to disconnect the device, close ODIN app on your PC, remove the battery from your phone and insert it back in the device. Enter again in Download mode and repeat the steps from step 8 onwards.

However, if the guide wen according to plan you are free to move to the second part of the flashing Hydra ROM tutorial guide.

II. Install Hydra ROM on Samsung Epic 4G Touch smartphone:

Now, with the phone powered OFF, you will need to boot it into CWM recovery mode. Do it by pressing the ‘Volume Up’ and ‘Power’ buttons both at the same time. Let go of them to boot into Clockworkmod Recovery. When in Recovery, use the volume rocker buttons to navigate up and down through the recovery options. Press Power to select options.

Now select ‘wipe data/ factory reset’ and the select ‘YES’ to confirm the data wiping. Note that this won’t delete any file from the internal / external SDcard. When wiping process is completed move to the next step.

Select ‘install zip from sdcard’ and then ‘choose zip from sd card’ option. Scroll until you find the Hydra ROM zip file. ( it’s the file you’ve downloaded at step 1 from the Part1 of this tutorial guide.

Confirm the installation of the Hydra ROM on your smartphone.

When the Hydra ROM has been successfully installed you will need to select ‘install zip from sdcard’ once again. Select ‘choose zip from sdcard’ only that this time you will need to flash the ‘gapps for hydra’ zip file ( the one you’ve downloaded at step 2 in the 1st part of this tutorial ).

Wait until Gapps is installed and then you will have to select ‘++GO Back++’ and then ‘reboot system now’ to restart the device.

Now your phone will perform its first boot and it will then load the new Hydra custom ROM firmware right on your Epic 4G Touch phone.

That was the last step you had to take in order to successfully install the new custom ROM on your device.

Here are some tips and tricks to help customize some parts of the Hydra ROM interface that should make using it much more easier:

select ‘HUGE’ for the font size.

go to Nova Settings and then you will need to change the ‘Desktop settings width and height’ to NONE. This will use a much bigger screen area for the Hydra Tablet UI on your Android smartphone.

in case your Epic 4G Touch isn’t listed by the Google Play Store then you will need to set the dpi to ‘240’ and then restart. Download your apps and then change the dpi back to 128 and reset the device. Please note that if you leave the 128 dpi then your device will be seen as tablet and the smartphone apps cannot be installed.

if you don’t know how to change the DPI, then open Settings> ROM Control and then select ‘General UI and here change the LCD density values.

if you wish to change the all the colors to resemble the Mega Blue then do use this: USE HEX VALUES #ff0075ff. This option can be found in Settings> ROM Control.

These were all the steps, tips and tricks you needed to successfully install and configure the Hydra ROM firmware on your Samsung Epic 4G Touch. If you have any other questions or any new tips&tricks then please post them in our comments section.